China will monitor comments and “likes” of users on social media punishing what it considers “illegal” or “harmful”

Given the wave of protests that have taken place in the Asian country in recent days, the authorities have maximized controls and censorship on social media.

The historic demonstrations that have taken place in various parts of China had a great impact on the authorities of the Asian giant; so it will begin to punish those whose posts or likes are considered “illegal” or “harmful”.

Although in the last hours the Chinese government decided to relax some of the strict restrictions that the “covid zero” policy maintained due to the pressure caused by the protests, they took the controls and censorship on social media to their extreme point.

In November, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the web regulator, announced new rules stating that likes and comments should be regulated.

According to the guideline, public account operators should improve their monitoring of comments and report “illegal or undesirable information” to authorities.

However, the new rules do not explain what content is considered illegal.

According to CNN, Chinese police are using mobile phone information to track down and prevent further protests in the country’s capital, Beijing.

The method used by China to carry out this procedure is based on information tracking, which occurs through VPNs and other online censorship methods.

Chinese police frequently use this method to control not only demonstrations, but also any threat against Xi Jinping’s government.

From CNN it was shown that dozens of people received anonymous calls in which they were asked if they were going to participate in the demonstrations that were taking place in Beijing, and they were advised not to do so in case the answer was positive.

The wave of protests has also spread online, on networks such as WeChat and Weibo, as authorities struggle to crack down on dissenting content and users.

“Liking something that is illegal shows that there is popular support for the issue being raised. Too many likes ‘can start a prairie fire,’” said David Zweig, professor emeritus at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

“The threats to the [Chinese Communist Party] come from an ability to communicate across cities. The authorities must have been really spooked when so many people in so many cities came out at the same time,” he added.

“The authorities are very concerned with the spreading protest activities, and an important means of control is to stop the communications of the potential protesters including reports of protest activities and appeals of joining them,” said Joseph Cheng, a retired professor of political science at the City University of Hong Kong.

In China, there is a scenario of “digital authoritarianism”, with social media being monitored, posts being blocked, and people being punished for visiting certain websites.

The Chinese Communist Party has been keen to indoctrinate young Internet users. The news is leaked and the news that is disseminated has ideological content and often has strong nationalist ideas.

According to Open Doors, it is becoming increasingly difficult to buy Christian materials online in China.

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“Bible apps have been removed from online app stores, including the Google and Apple app stores,” the organization said.

In March this year, a new law established that it is illegal to create or share any religious content online.

China is ranked 17th on the 2022 World Watch List, according to Open Doors.

The new control measures are amendments to a 2017 regulation and will take effect on December 15.